The Challenger
by Rose Starre
Summary: Artemis Fowl and his friends have been entered in a game show run by the ever-mysterious Challenger. Will all of them make it out alive? Or will they be crushed by the Challenger's evil scheme?
1. The Challenger

Chapter 1: The Challenger

It was a quite peaceful day, by anyone's standards. The heroes (and the two heroines) of this story were at home. Two of them (meaning Artemis and Holly) were absorbed in their books; three others (meaning Butler, Trouble, and Juliet) were sharpening their fighting skills. One of them was buried in a fridge (guess who), and two others (meaning Foaly and No1) were discussing the differences of magic and tech with each other.

Then the letters came, and everything changed. Everyone had their own reactions: Artemis simply raised his eyebrows in suspicion, Holly skimmed over it twice to make sure she was reading it right, Butler gave his punching bag a backhanded slap it won't soon forget, Juliet screamed "Cool!", Trouble squinted at it as if it were written in an alien language, Mulch belched the words on the letter aloud, and Foaly and No1 looked at each other, confused.

(Just so no one else gets confused, I'll put up a copy of the letters right here:

Dear (name):

You have been chosen as a contender in the game show: The Challenger! You and seven other contestants will compete for the gold on live television in a series of eleven trials. Failure to complete these trials will result in your own expulsion from the game. Good luck!

Your friend:

The Challenger)

The Challenger was a brand new game show airing in Haven for the first time. The start of the show's first episode was in two days. Artemis, Butler, and Juliet had to be picked up in a shuttle and taken down to Haven for the event.

Pretty soon, the eight of them were standing on a circular platform that was going to be raised onto the stage. Motions of the people on the platform included nervous (and excited) shuffling, anxious shaking, the rapid movement of panicky eyeballs, and (highly exaggerated) eighty-foot jumps when someone was accidentally brushed against.

After a minute or two, the contestants rose into a small arena. The stands were packed with a live audience of elves, dwarves, goblins, demons, and pixies. The crowd cheered wildly when the contenders appeared. Every once and a while, some guy would bay for Butler's blood.

No1 shuffled a little closer to Holly. "Why are these people baying for blood? We're not going to get killed or anything, are we?" he asked, looking at the captain for support.

"Of course not," Holly said, smiling at him. _I hope,_ she thought helplessly. No1 sensed his friend's fear and laid his hand on her shoulder.

An odd-looking elf stepped forward. He had slicked-back black hair (like Artemis's), orange eyes (like No1's), and a dangerous look to him (like Butler).

"What do you want?" Trouble shouted, speaking for the first time since his arrival.

"Why," the elf said smoothly, "I am the Challenger, of course. I'm here to give you your first challenge."

_To be continued…_

_This is a bit awkward. Sorry about the shortness of the chapter, I wasn't too sure where to go with this. Besides, this was more of an intro than anything else. Oh well, see you next time!_


	2. Lost Treasure

Chapter 2: Lost Treasure

The Challenger chuckled softly at the contenders' confusion. "Allow me to explain the first challenge," he said ominously. "Each one of you will dive into icy water, one at a time, to retrieve a pearl. Failure to retrieve the treasure will result in your removal from the game. I suggest you find your swimming suits, you will be getting a little bit wet."

Everyone tried to take their sweet old time changing, but they were ready in nine minutes. Foaly secretly gave each of his friends a scuba-pill (I'll explain them later). "Good, good," the Challenger murmured to himself. "They might just freeze in the water. She will be so proud." This was said off-camera and while the speaker was alone, so no one would get suspicious. (Sadly, you and I heard him. I'll explain why he wants them dead at a later date.)

A large lake appeared to have grown out of the ground while the contestants had been changing. Mulch dipped a cautious toe into the water and quickly pulled it back. "He wasn't kidding; this water is freezing," he announced.

Holly shivered slightly. "What are we going to do?" she asked. No one answered. Holly crossed her arms and looked down into the lake. She could just barely make out the glimmer of their targets at the bottom. She shivered a little harder just thinking about the dive they all would have to make.

Foaly stared at the water. "Guys," he said nervously, "I can't swim. I'll sink like a stone."

Holly put her hand on his arm. "That's kind of the point. We need to get to the bottom. If coming up is your problem, just walk up the side, you'll get there eventually," she said soothingly. Foaly nodded, still looking worriedly at the water.

The Challenger walked up, wearing a confident grin. "You guys ready?" he asked excitedly. All he received were half-hearted, mumbled 'sures'. "Alright then," the Challenger said, acting as though he had received thrilled answers. "Foaly will go first."

Foaly was surprised at the sudden calling of his name. He looked cautiously at Holly, who gave him the thumbs-up sign and mouthed 'You got this!' Foaly looked back at the water and carefully stepped in.

The water chilled Foaly's hooves instantly. He pressed on, determined to reach the bottom. As Foaly had predicted, as soon as his hooves could no longer touch the sand, he began to sink. He waved at the nearest camera, knowing his wife was watching.

Foaly's head soon disappeared under the surface of the lake. Strangely enough, his precious tin-foil hat, a reminder that Foaly was quite paranoid, remained on the surface.

Foaly struggled on the way down. He had taken a scuba-pill (a pill invented by Foaly himself allowing the taker to breath in any environment for an hour), but he was still half-horse and it isn't completely natural for a horse to swim.

Eventually, after twenty minutes of sinking, Foaly reached the bottom. He scooped up a pearl and began to trot with some difficulty up the sandy side of the lake. He was having a hard time because the chill of the water was getting to him and his hooves were nearly unable to find purchase on the slippery sand.

Right when it seemed Foaly's scuba-pill had run out of air, he burst out of the water, teeth chattering. He handed the pearl to the Challenger and trotted back to his friends who congratulated him on the task.

The challenge didn't seem to be much of a strain to Butler, Juliet, No1, and Trouble. Mulch tried taking all the pearls, automatically disqualifying him. (Typical Mulch) Artemis had an interesting time, so I'll tell his turn here.

Artemis stared into the water when his turn came. He tried to quickly come up with a plan to use minimum movement. There wasn't one, unless he wanted to freeze to death.

He slid into the water, instantly almost regretting it. The water was colder than he had imagined. It would have taken his breath away had he not taken the scuba-pill.

Artemis tried to dive like Butler had, but it wound up being more like a clumsy belly flop. Everyone on shore winced as if they knew the pain that followed a poorly executed belly flop.

Artemis eventually went under, looking frantically for the pearls. He saw them all scattered at the bottom where Mulch had dropped them. He kicked desperately at the surrounding water as if it were an enemy.

It was quite straining for Artemis to reach the pearls. He selected one without difficulty, knowing full well that the hard part was coming. He turned to the sky and pushed off the bottom of the lake.

He anxiously swam upwards, straining to make it. Panic had begun to set in. He wondered what would come first, the surface or unconsciousness. Luckily, the surface broke ahead of him and he gulped down fresh air.

Artemis broke for shore panting and grinning, the pearl clutched in his fist. He climbed out of the water, dropped the pearl on the little pile, and rushed to an anxious Butler.

Finally, it was Holly's turn. She trudged, already shivering, into the water and struck out for the center of the lake. Almost immediately, she felt her muscles tensing and knew it would be tough getting back up.

Holly slid underwater with the ease of a sea lion. She streamlined herself the best she could. Her magic kept the sub-zero temperatures at bay, but she already felt the cold seeping into her.

Holly made it to the bottom as fast as possible, knowing that, if she didn't, she would lose consciousness and fail the challenge. She snatched the nearest pearl and swam for the surface.

After a mere three minutes, Holly's vision began to blur. Panic immediately set in and she swam as quickly as her stiffening limbs would allow. But, the surface was too far off for Holly to reach. The best she could do was reach toward the sim-sky with her free hand and fade away into unconsciousness.

The crowd fell silent as one of their own seemed to die. Butler dove automatically into the water again, despite the chill. His large hands closed around something small, cold, but definitely alive. He scrambled onto shore, laying the seemingly dead body on the sand.

Trouble shoved Butler aside, which took quite some effort. He immediately began CPR, a worried expression on his face. After some time, Artemis rushed over and lifted Holly's limp wrist and checked her pulse. It was there, but was very weak.

"She's alive, but she's going to need a little help getting back out of limbo. No1, we need your assistance over here." Artemis cried.

No1 hustled over and took Holly's head in his hands. His runes moved like snakes and his eyes misted over, turning a solid blue. He muttered some ancient spell and shot quite a bit of magic into his unconscious friend.

Nothing happened for a minute or two, everyone assuming the captain really was gone. But, her eyes soon snapped open and she gasped for breath. She looked wildly from face to face, completely unsure of what happened.

No1 knelt at Holly's side again and brushed still-wet strands of red hair from her face. "Everything's alright," he told her, "Let's get you home."

"No," Holly coughed. She sat up with some effort and extended her shaky right hand. No one had noticed before, but there was a small pearl sitting on Holly's open palm. "I'm not going home," she wheezed, grinning. "Not until I'm really knocked out of the game."


End file.
